Another precedent that will be set is the amount of whining of fan boys if this movie isn't one of the greatest films ever made. Considering the amount of righteous outrage you see when a nostalgia trip type movie doesn't measure up to expectations for a ticket price of $8-12, but when fans are shelling out 10 grand? Some pharmaceutical company is going to get rich inventing a cream needed to soothe those ruffled feathers.

Look at what happened with Serenity.

/ I liked Serenity but I watched the whole series and the movie in one weekend.

I like reading Joss Whedon's reactions to this. On the one hand he's a booster, on the other you can hear the hesitation in his tone about revisiting Firefly. I can sympathize, as much as I love Firefly I respect the desire to move forward and not be shackled to previous projects. It's like he balancing on a razor blade trying to keep the fans happy while at the same time telling them it ain't gonna happen.

Ennuipoet:I like reading Joss Whedon's reactions to this. On the one hand he's a booster, on the other you can hear the hesitation in his tone about revisiting Firefly. I can sympathize, as much as I love Firefly I respect the desire to move forward and not be shackled to previous projects. It's like he balancing on a razor blade trying to keep the fans happy while at the same time telling them it ain't gonna happen.

Ennuipoet:I like reading Joss Whedon's reactions to this. On the one hand he's a booster, on the other you can hear the hesitation in his tone about revisiting Firefly. I can sympathize, as much as I love Firefly I respect the desire to move forward and not be shackled to previous projects. It's like he balancing on a razor blade trying to keep the fans happy while at the same time telling them it ain't gonna happen.

I liked Firefly as much as the next nerd but it's over. Almost all of the cast has new gigs (has whatever show Summer Glau is on been canceled yet?) and Whedon's going to be tied up with Marvel for at least the next decade. Anyway, they tied things up pretty nicely in the movie no one saw.

Mugato:Ennuipoet: I like reading Joss Whedon's reactions to this. On the one hand he's a booster, on the other you can hear the hesitation in his tone about revisiting Firefly. I can sympathize, as much as I love Firefly I respect the desire to move forward and not be shackled to previous projects. It's like he balancing on a razor blade trying to keep the fans happy while at the same time telling them it ain't gonna happen.

I liked Firefly as much as the next nerd but it's over. Almost all of the cast has new gigs (has whatever show Summer Glau is on been canceled yet?) and Whedon's going to be tied up with Marvel for at least the next decade. Anyway, they tied things up pretty nicely in the movie no one saw.

I never saw Firefly as a show that was going to be able to go 100+ episodes without getting lame, anyway. I'm with you, the shows that aired and the movie wrap things up pretty nicely.

jake_lex:I never saw Firefly as a show that was going to be able to go 100+ episodes without getting lame, anyway

I could see Whedon's "everyone is so clever and sarcastic" dialog getting old fast. It certainly did with Buffy. A lot of otherwise good writers have the problem of all their characters speaking in the same voice. See also Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Smith, Tarantino.

I think this Kickstarter is more rare than people understand, its a beloved property that is reveared by its main star and creator. How many other shows fit into that catogory? And if Hollywood tries to use kickstarter to fund a DTV sequel to a medicore film I think most people will smell a rat and avoid pre-ordering.

I'm hoping that one day he Whedon will create another series we will want to watch 100+ episodes of. Just waiting on the story that will be worth it. Something new is always better than reviving something old and finished.

Mugato:jake_lex: I never saw Firefly as a show that was going to be able to go 100+ episodes without getting lame, anyway

I could see Whedon's "everyone is so clever and sarcastic" dialog getting old fast. It certainly did with Buffy. A lot of otherwise good writers have the problem of all their characters speaking in the same voice. See also Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Smith, Tarantino.

I watched about 5 episodes of Firefly and despite having a cast that I typically like watching in other shows, I just could not even enjoy it a little. Ive noticed thou that I don't like Aaron Sorkin TV shows either thou. I can deal and enjoy Joss Whedons movies but as you said, when put to a constant running TV show its just irritating.

Mimekiller:I think this Kickstarter is more rare than people understand, its a beloved property that is reveared by its main star and creator. How many other shows fit into that catogory? And if Hollywood tries to use kickstarter to fund a DTV sequel to a medicore film I think most people will smell a rat and avoid pre-ordering.

That, exactly. You could probably count the shows this could work for on one hand.

I was more than willing to kick in $35 on this. It's basically pre-ordering the movie and getting a t-shirt that says I'm a big nerd. I think the show has more to say and the creator and a big chunk of the cast have been wanting to do it for years. That's not going to happen all that often.

Nobody seems to want to do the math on this. Veronica mars will do 10 - 15 million tops. After distribution costs, marketing and theaters taking their cut, the actual profit is something like 6 million. Still a profit sure, but not exactly the 100s of millions Hollywood likes. This isn't something Hollywood can do long term and make a mint off of.

Mugato:Ennuipoet: I like reading Joss Whedon's reactions to this. On the one hand he's a booster, on the other you can hear the hesitation in his tone about revisiting Firefly. I can sympathize, as much as I love Firefly I respect the desire to move forward and not be shackled to previous projects. It's like he balancing on a razor blade trying to keep the fans happy while at the same time telling them it ain't gonna happen.

I liked Firefly as much as the next nerd but it's over. Almost all of the cast has new gigs (has whatever show Summer Glau is on been canceled yet?) and Whedon's going to be tied up with Marvel for at least the next decade. Anyway, they tied things up pretty nicely in the movie no one saw.

Yup. Loved the show, loved the movie but it's not coming back. I'll rewatch those every year or so and be content.

I can see Hollywood farking this up when they dump 15 good ideas on Kickstarter with a demand that they will only get made when amount X is reached for each one. Then they won't do any promotion for their ideas and hope the magical fairies of "word of mouth" and "viral marketing" do their advertising for free. Meanwhile, each good idea fails because of a lack of promotion and lazy Hollywood goes back to giving Michael Bay some new '80s nostalgia piece to fark.

Mugato:jake_lex: I never saw Firefly as a show that was going to be able to go 100+ episodes without getting lame, anyway

I could see Whedon's "everyone is so clever and sarcastic" dialog getting old fast. It certainly did with Buffy. A lot of otherwise good writers have the problem of all their characters speaking in the same voice. See also Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Smith, Tarantino.

I'd say while Tarantino has been guilty of that in the past, his most recent films have seemed to show an improvement in the area (Inglorious Basterds, Django).

The first season of "Veronica Mars" was fantastic. Probably the best "mystery" show ever. It was nearly perfect.

The second and third seasons...not so much. They're almost like the "Matrix" sequels, in that they diminish the greatness of the first season by retroactively messing up some of the plot and characters.

kab:germ78: Then they won't do any promotion for their ideas and hope the magical fairies of "word of mouth" and "viral marketing" do their advertising for free.

We're told over and over that these are far more effective than advertising anyhow, something who's cost is baked into the financial expectations.

Who likes ads anyhow, right?

When you're trying to do a kickstarter for some relatively new IP without much of a dedicated fanbase, you're gonna need a little advertising push behind it. Not every project funded this way is going to have a Comicon/SXSW roll-out like Veronica Mars did. I could see it working for some big name director who wants to take on a smaller project as well, but it probably wouldn't work if the director is relatively new and the project is an original concept.

/though I can see using Comicon and SXSW as a venue to generate word of mouth for lesser known projects//I'd love to see Hollywood make a GoBots movie and have it be 100x the movie Transformers ever could be

Wtf is 'veronica mars'? It's drawing a lot of bizarre comparisons, but the name makes me think it's some low-rent Sex and City knockoff.

I could google it, I know, but I thought I'd ask since everyone here seems to love it?

/no, lmgtfy isn't farking funny or helpful, before you post it//fellow consumer feedback is important and helpful in defining a genre above and beyond what generic press conference marketing can tell me

realmolo:The first season of "Veronica Mars" was fantastic. Probably the best "mystery" show ever. It was nearly perfect.

The second and third seasons...not so much. They're almost like the "Matrix" sequels, in that they diminish the greatness of the first season by retroactively messing up some of the plot and characters.

A movie could work, though.

Sort of like Twin Peaks, once the main mystery was solved, the show floundered. I always thought it deserved more time to right itself, though.

Mugato:How would anything original ever get made? Who's going to donate to a project that they're not already fans of?

Well, how does anything new get made now? Present your idea, and someone funds it, and hopes for the best. You, the consumer, (theoretically) pay for the content, and that's that.

But with this, you're merely replacing one backer for another, not to mention that many shows / movies etc that wouldn't have been made prior actually have a more legitimate shot now, since your idea screener moves directly to the consumer rather than some bean counter who thinks "no, this won't sell", and squashes the idea. (Just think of how many artists you enjoy now that would never have gotten the green light of a recording contract 25 years ago, for example. Wouldn't you prefer to decide what you do and don't like?)

I mean, read the entertainment tab, and look at the music industry. Consumers constantly bemoan the fact that they pay way too much for content they dislike. Kickstarter simply eradicates all of that. Folks pay what they want for what they think they'll like, and if the monetary goal isn't reached, the project doesn't happen. No one loses money, consumers don't feel ripped off, and everyone's happy.

Well not a lot does, actually. But the few original ideas in Hollywood are funded by studios who expect a return on their investment. They expect to make a profit. That's not really the case with people donating to a project just because they want to see it made.

Well not a lot does, actually. But the few original ideas in Hollywood are funded by studios who expect a return on their investment. They expect to make a profit. That's not really the case with people donating to a project just because they want to see it made.

Exactly.

Plus, when fans fund something, they mistakenly start to believe it should be done the way they want it to be, instead of the correct way.

As was said in the post at the top of the thread, the whining from the fanboys will be legendary.

How much of the love for Firefly is about the characters and how much is about the particular universe it takes place in? I think it's some of both. I'd be difficult to bring back the old cast (especially the ones who *** SPOILER *** are dead). And a 'Joey' type spinoff that follows the life of Jayne would probably be lame. Give the Star Trek DS9 model a try, take some other aspect of that universe and make a show around it. Another Firefly stuffed with characters is going to beg endless (likely unfavorable) comparisons to the original so go with some other interesting portion of the universe. Pepper in the occasional background reference to Serenity and the crew in passing during a story here and there but don't have original cast members popping up every other week for a 'special episode'.

Let's get one thing straight - I think Kristen Bell is sexy as hell, has a beautiful face and a killer body...but after seeing that still frame from awhile ago where one of her girls made a sneak peak....I don't think you want to see them all up in the daylight. Nothing terribly wrong with them - but they are not classically trained show-em-if-you-got-em boobies.

I think this is a great idea. Now movies like (say, Transformers) won't get made every other month because thier kickstarter fails to get funding. And if it stops incessant marketing of things like Twilight, all the better.

kroonermanblack:Wtf is 'veronica mars'? It's drawing a lot of bizarre comparisons, but the name makes me think it's some low-rent Sex and City knockoff.

I could google it, I know, but I thought I'd ask since everyone here seems to love it?

/no, lmgtfy isn't farking funny or helpful, before you post it//fellow consumer feedback is important and helpful in defining a genre above and beyond what generic press conference marketing can tell me

"hey, give us money to make something" "hey thanks, now give us money to watch it"

Bit of a double-dip i guess. They only way it would make sense i guess would be if giving to Kickstarter was the same as pre-ordering a copy of the DVD. If you dont get a full copy of the movie, its a loss for you.

Mimekiller:I think this Kickstarter is more rare than people understand, its a beloved property that is reveared by its main star and creator. How many other shows fit into that catogory? And if Hollywood tries to use kickstarter to fund a DTV sequel to a medicore film I think most people will smell a rat and avoid pre-ordering.

I think the key thing to Kickstarter is the word "cult". There are things out there that get a relatively small audience, but that audience is passionate about them. Take Monty Python: it wasn't actually a very big TV series in terms of viewers. But you had people like George Harrison that were willing to spend a few million to get their movies made.

Let's get one thing straight - I think Kristen Bell is sexy as hell, has a beautiful face and a killer body...but after seeing that still frame from awhile ago where one of her girls made a sneak peak....I don't think you want to see them all up in the daylight. Nothing terribly wrong with them - but they are not classically trained show-em-if-you-got-em boobies.

She's having a baby soon, so after the hormones kick in, maybe she'll develop a nice pair of milk bags.

Ennuipoet:I like reading Joss Whedon's reactions to this. On the one hand he's a booster, on the other you can hear the hesitation in his tone about revisiting Firefly. I can sympathize, as much as I love Firefly I respect the desire to move forward and not be shackled to previous projects. It's like he balancing on a razor blade trying to keep the fans happy while at the same time telling them it ain't gonna happen.

I'd just like to have some closure for certain aspects of Firefly honestly. Like who/what exactly Book was prior to becoming a shepherd.

AgentKGB:kroonermanblack: Wtf is 'veronica mars'? It's drawing a lot of bizarre comparisons, but the name makes me think it's some low-rent Sex and City knockoff.

I could google it, I know, but I thought I'd ask since everyone here seems to love it?

/no, lmgtfy isn't farking funny or helpful, before you post it//fellow consumer feedback is important and helpful in defining a genre above and beyond what generic press conference marketing can tell me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhCwJyqIO3E

I hadn't heard of it either and after watching about ½ of that trailer... I'm going to have to pass.

When Mrs. Samurai first told me about the show (right after Season 1 started), it sounded like I wasn't in the ideal demographic for it. A high-school modern-day Nancy Drew needs to solve a dilemna-of-the-week while working on a larger mystery? Yeah, it sounds odd. But then I watched an episode. It had far more film noir elements than I anticipated, and the writing and dialogue was clever without reaching Sorkinian levels. The characters had depth, and the plot wasn't saturated with high school-type drama - just enough to set the atmosphere that the Mars family was never really accepted in the town's social circles. Then you add in some really good recurring characters like Ken Marino's Vinnie van Lowe, or some surprisingly good performances like Steve Guttenberg. It really wasn't surprising that it got a small but dedicated following like Pushing Daisies or Better Off Ted.

Iczer:Ennuipoet: I like reading Joss Whedon's reactions to this. On the one hand he's a booster, on the other you can hear the hesitation in his tone about revisiting Firefly. I can sympathize, as much as I love Firefly I respect the desire to move forward and not be shackled to previous projects. It's like he balancing on a razor blade trying to keep the fans happy while at the same time telling them it ain't gonna happen.

I'd just like to have some closure for certain aspects of Firefly honestly. Like who/what exactly Book was prior to becoming a shepherd.

They covered it in a Firefly comic:

(Spoilers)

His background is explored further in the comic book Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale. Book was born Henry Evans, a boy who was raised by an abusive father. He ran away from home and began life as a petty criminal before being recruited by the Independence movement and moving out to the Border Worlds. Long before the Alliance begins the Unification War, forward-thinking Browncoats assign Evans to be a long-term mole. He sheds his old identity by killing a random passerby and stealing his identification card, becoming Derrial Book. His Browncoat superiors keep tabs on him by surgically removing one of his eyes and replacing it with an artificial camera. He joins the Alliance military and quickly moves up in rank. Becoming an officer, Book intentionally leads a risky operation that results in a humiliating defeat for the Alliance. He is forced to retire from the Alliance military. It is implied that the Alliance covers up the loss, therefore not officially punishing Book. Homeless, he visits a soup kitchen and finds God while contemplating a bowl of soup. He takes refuge at an abbey where he becomes a shepherd before leaving on Serenity to become a missionary.